It's a reality show you can see only on TVW, the state's public affairs network: 147 members of the state Legislature and one governor work in cramped temporary quarters in Olympia and come to agreement to pass a balan

QUESTION: The last couple of times I scoured my bathroom sink and bathtub, I had a sneezing fit. I suppose I'm having a reaction to the cleanser. Can you recommend something milder? -- Cassie Burton via e-mail
ANSWER: Absolutely! Thi

You've probably already seen the title and started to form some opinions. Some people might even consider the proximity of the word "Jesus" to the word "vampire" heretical. Well, sit down, because the vampires? They're lesbians. And Jesu

Almost everyone sings. In the shower, in the car, even occasionally in public. There are groups of friends who get together just to harmonize, or work through a little four-part writing, and there are members of large ensembles who becom

Downtown isn't the only place to see art this Friday. The city's newest art venue, Tinman Artworks, opens its doors on West Garland for the first time Friday evening, just in time for the Visual Arts Tour. Occupying the space held by Rat

At this point in his career, Owen Wilson has become a sort of Jeff Spicoli character, albeit without the haze of marijuana smoke that surrounded Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
In this sequel to the smash film, Shanghai Noon, Wils

Pedaling for Ghana -- Thanks so much for running the short piece on the Village Bicycle Project and our efforts to get bicycle collections for Africa started in Spokane.
If any readers are interested in helping collect, store, and/or

Urban dwellers often derisively refer to the hardscrabble landscape of eastern Montana as fly-over country. With a population density of less than one person per square mile, the land looks raw, desolate and endless, whether seen from gr

Every Visual Arts Tour seems to have one or two hot spots where most of the activity seems to congregate. In years past, we've seen the epicenter shift from the Carnegie Square area, to West Main, to the River Park Square/Art at Work inters

The first suite of poems in Robyn Schiff's collection Worth is a bit of a haute couture surprise. Marie Antoinette's white dresses, a cleverly constructed onyx-and-pearl bracelet, enormous pear-shaped diamonds, the secrets of Parisian se

You've got to be careful with a phrase like "one of Spokane's best-kept secrets," but interior designers, artists and sustainable living devotees are already big fans of Earth Goods, the industrial hemp company owned by entrepreneur/artists

Charly -- Not to be confused with the 1968 Cliff Robertson film based on Flowers for Algernon, this Charly is about a principled young Mormon whose world is turned upside down when a free spirit from big, bad Manhattan moves to Salt Lake

Dude Looks Like a Lady -- Remember a few months ago when the Young America exhibit first opened at the MAC, all we could talk about was that portrait of the handsome and obviously wealthy Daniel LaMotte? Well, in honor of the show's las

Furniture Between the Curtains - Good Works Gallery * 1019 W. First Ave. * 462-3643
Metal, glass and granite furniture by Sandpoint artist Tom Sykes is featured at Good Works Gallery, one of the new art

Northern Quest Casino -- At Northern Quest Casino, in traditional buffet-style, you pay upon entering ($10.95 for dinner; breakfast is $5.95 and lunch is $7.95), and find your own table in the clean, bustling dining room. The succulent p

The Atlantic reports that Great Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office has released a report revealing that in 2000:
1. Saddam Hussein approved amputation of the tongue as a penalty for abusive remarks about him or his family;
2.

Corbin, Hutton, Davenport -- the names conjure up visions of early Spokane and feelings of pride in place. But for every one whose name adorns roads, schools and parks, dozens of others contributed to Spokane's founding without gaining th

25th Hour -- Spike Lee's newest joint has Edward Norton as a New York drug dealer getting ready to do seven years in the hoosegow. On his last day and night of freedom, he's seen drinking with his two best pals (Barry Pepper, Philip Seym

As World War II continues to hold that place as America's noblest struggle, our understanding of it is changing. Far from the bloodless depictions of 1950s movies, recent recreations -- films like Saving Private Ryan and the miniser

It's rare that we get any contemporary Chicano exhibits in this neck of the woods, much less one as engaging as the three-part photography series by Robert Buitr & oacute;n, currently underway at the Chase Gallery in City Hall. Buitr & oacute;n, a Chicano ar

It was just a flash of corrugated metal, a silvery blur out of the corner of my eye, and two of my favorite words in the English language: "coffee house." But I didn't think anything of it; in fact I figured that while the metal sign was fo

Spokane doesn't exactly scream rapper's paradise. But Tyler Jensen (aka Luck13) and Ceth Leonard may just change that. The two comprise the local rap duo OutSpokane (pronounced "outspoken") and are freestylin' their way to blowin' up the

From Germany, With Love -- If you notice a new street name in Post Falls -- Herborn Place -- you might wonder what it means. Well, it's the name of Post Falls' sister city in Germany. And Herborn's hometown newspaper made notice of the new

The interview for this story began, as they do with some frequency, with a question directed back at the interviewer, one that immediately betrayed the extent of Ben Kweller's knowledge of little old Spokane.
"I was wondering if there we

In the inaugural run of this weekly column dedicated to seeking out local live music and attempting to exploit it for the good of all involved (and those not-so-involved), I have decided to take my cue from George W. and issue a "State o

Johnny Wilkes (Travis Mowery), General Lee (Matt Best) and Abraham Honestly (Abraham Glubrecht) are three young, truthful fellows who consider themselves "Hot Topic, trendy folks," yet produce music that has very little to do with manufa

Vandals Charging -- COEUR D'ALENE -- The University of Idaho is reporting high enrollment numbers, and the campus in Coeur d'Alene has seen by far the highest influx as the number of students grew from 502 last year at this time, to 531 t

Erasure has a funny effect on a lot of people. No, they don't make you gay (although a few of my friends did come out in the midst of Erasure's late '80s heyday). What I'm talking about is the way the mere mention of their name can make peo

Here they are, the men and women of the local music scene, the ones willing to invest time and effort to provide the rest of us slackers with entertainment that's fresh, live and homegrown. Support them as you would any local small busine

Five Foot Thick Blood Puddle -- If the title didn't clue you in as to what this album might hold in store for your already thoroughly tortured psyche and shriveled eardrums, a listen to the first few seconds of the opening cut, "Unfounde

How would you like to wake up in the morning to the sounds of a bulldozer crushing rock, or to the smell of diesel with your coffee? Not ideal? Laura Bubna doesn't think so either, but that's what is going to be happening in her neighborho

Here's a group that describes itself as "Spokane's only hurtin' and cheatin' grown-up country dance band." Pend Oreille (the band) is made up of Texas music roots and Spokane family roots, bringing music learned in the Mecca of country-dan

Four young men arrived at the Battle of the Bands in 2001 without a name for their group. When one of their "redneck friends" used the expression "badride" as a verb or description in every other sentence of his hippie dialect, the fours

Welcome to Spokane's live music scene, a scene that, we are pleased to report, is showing steadily improving vital signs. In fact, if scene vitality could be measured solely against numbers of actively participating performers -- just chec